DC 15Family life
by Hardwing
Summary: While what some of them have digged up back in Wyvern only enlarged Lucifia's looming shadow, the clan has to deal with the newest government directive which threatens to only enlarge the rift going through its very core.


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15. Family life

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I just want to thank the creators of DARK AGES for creating such a great background, and Storyseeker for correcting my fics and helping me with great ideas and for the characters of his ficverse.

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11.09.98; 16:21; Manhattan, Frances Tavern:

The restaurant and bar, which belonged to New York's better places, was filled with the life of people who wanted to relish the warmth of a summer nearing its end. In the midst of the people belonging to the better part of the city's society, at least in their own thoughts, sat Fox who waited.

The beautiful redhead sipped at her tea, wearing a shirt and black trousers. She looked maybe a bit too remiss for the place, but the owner knew better than to tell this to the wife of the richest man in the city.

Though looking heedless for someone watching her and not even looking up when steps neared, Fox knew more about the person nearing than anyone could possibly believe.

"Hello, mother," the half-Fey greeted Titania in her human form as she stepped up to the table, looking up to see her mother in the usual blue suit she liked to wear. "Sit down."

"I'm sorry for coming late," the queen of the Fey said, taking place on the other side of the table. "A competition I had the duty to look over lasted longer than I thought."

"Competition?" Fox asked surprised.

"On Avalon the children often compete in their magical abilities," her mother replied. "Tonight it was about the control over the element of fire."

A waitress neared, so the women stopped their talk.

"A coffee, please," the Human known as Anastasia said, to which the waitress nodded and left again.

Mother and daughter looked at each other for a moment.

"I thought we had reached a point where you didn't have to bring a weapon with you," Titania noticed.

"This is not because of you," Fox replied, ignoring the slight accusation in her mother's voice for a moment, instead watching the waitress seemingly entering the kitchen, but not before taking a look at her.

"Lucifia?" Titania noticed.

Fox nodded and took another sip of her tea, looking at her mother again.

"It seems she has many followers, and David and I have to be prepared," she said and sighed. "But that is not why we're meeting."

"Sure, we wanted to talk about us... About me," Titania guessed. "I assume there are parts Puck is not willing to reveal."

"Did you order him?" her daughter asked directly.

"No," the Fey in human disguise replied. "He likes to keep one or two things in mystery. He believes it to be funnier that way."

"He isn't the only one," Fox noticed.

Titania looked at her daughter for a moment with an unreadable face, and then nodded.

"No, he isn't," she admitted, her voice soft.

Her daughter waited a second, realizing that she actually felt a bit sorry for having brought this topic up.

"There is much I want to know…" Fox began. "How old are you?"

"20000 years," Titania revealed. "Though I can hardly determine the time between my coming to existence and me becoming sentient."

"Becoming sentient?" the former merchant asked. "You mean growing up?"

Titania thought for a moment.

"It is not the same," she began, but stopped when the waitress came and placed the coffee on the table, which the human-looking woman accepted with a nod.

"The first and most of our species had developed into beings similar to what you know as Will-o'-the-wisp. When they managed to grab the magic they were born in, they managed to form it," Titania explained. "But doing this needs the will to do it, which needs time or the right circumstances to develop."

"So you evolved from such a being?" Fox asked.

"No, I was born from one Fey who developed this way… though this is not the way you imagined," her mother revealed. "Others like my lord and husband Oberon were born also."

The beautiful redhead waited for a second, formulating the question Puck had denied her to answer, and which she had longed most for this meeting.

"Did you ever have any other children besides me?" Fox asked.

Titania waited a second, sipping her tea.

"Yes," she revealed. "Twins, one son and a daughter."

Her daughter's eyes grew wide. "Halflings?" she asked, choking, having learned this term from Puck.

"No," Titania replied, looking sad though trying to hide it. "They were… _are_ mine and Oberon's."

"Where…?" her daughter began to ask, but a female voice stopped her.

"My queen," a beautiful golden-skinned woman wearing a lilac top and lilac trousers, which were stylish but seemed rather unfitting, given they revealed the mid section to a not anymore really warm air, said.

"Lord Oberon sends us," another woman standing beside her, wearing the same clothes and looking like the other's twin except for her hair that was the color of silver, continued.

"He asks for your presence," a third woman, looking like the others except her black hair, finished.

Titania, or rather Anastasia's face, which had straightened by the arrival of the three, became a controlled mask, while looking at them.

"I see," she replied. "You may go."

The three women nodded in union, and gave a short bow before leaving.

Fox knew who they where even without asking her mother, having learned about them from David. Even more, already before realizing that they looked the same she somehow felt a strangeness about them, the same she sometimes felt with her mother… or so she believed.

"I must go," Titania said, rising from her chair. "I had hoped for more time, but since Avalon is returning to this world's time flow for the time being we..."

"Mother!" Fox asked, grabbing the woman's right arm before she could move.

Titania looked calm, replying her daughter's look for a moment until the grip loosened.

"They left this world a long time ago, and we don't know if they still live nor if they will ever return," Titania explained, her eyes and voice hinting a long lasting sadness. "I will tell you more, but in a better place."

Fox starred at her mother, then she nodded, letting her loose.

"I had hoped for more," she said, disappointed.

"I, too," her mother revealed, laying a hand on Fox's left shoulder. "But we will have time for this later."

Seeing her daughter not protesting, the queen of the Fey withdrew her hand and left the room, her daughter's eyes following her.

****

11.09.98; 21:13; Destine Mansion, Kitchen:

Demona, Darlene and Lana were dishwashing what had been left from their breakfast, with Lana drying up.

"Why don't you let Jarred do this for a change?" the youngest gargess asked, drying up a cup. "He eats enough for the three of us."

"Because he hasn't misused magic irresponsibly, and has to be penalized for it," her mother reminded her, handing Demona a plate, which the immortal put in the sink.

Lana murmured something under her breath and put the cup in a shelf. Darlene meanwhile took a look at Gem who sat on the floor of the kitchen playing unusually quiet with some blocks beside Shade who was seemingly dozing.

It was when Darlene gave her mother the last plate when they heard the sounds of wings approaching, and seeing four Gargoyles land outside.

"I'll let them in," Lana said, recognizing Ruth, the web winged tailor, Mary and her boyfriend standing in front of the glass-doors, and went on before the two Gargesses could say something, throwing her towel on the countertop.

"It's good that she's found friends," Darlene noticed with a smile, seeing how her daughter greeted her friends.

Her mother didn't say anything, but took a look at the scene while pulling the plug of the sink. Still watching her mother and getting ready to go, Darlene felt something touching her leg, discovering Gem standing at her feet and looking up to her.

With a smile, the pregnant Gargoyle took up her still youngest child and placed her on the countertop, giving her a cuddle. Demona meanwhile took a plate with the bit of a fried egg and knelt down, placing it on the floor, immediately catching the attention of Shade who took it gratefully and hungrily while the immortal rose once more.

"Granna!" Gem exclaimed, as her beloved babysitter came once more into view.

Startled, both Demona and Darlene looked on Gem who laughed, amused by the attention.

"Her first word?" the immortal asked.

"Yep," Darlene said, grabbing her daughter at once and swirling her around. "How clever she is!"

Darlene looked at her toddler with love in her eyes, and cuddled her close, noticing by this that she needed a change.

"Sorry," a voice intruded the moment.

Looking at the entrance to the kitchen, the Gargess noticed Mary's boyfriend, if such a term applied to a Gargoyle, looking at them from under his enlarged blue forehead with the two pairs of ridges.

"What is it?" Demona asked with a rather impolite and rough voice.

The young warrior's eyes lowered, and his voice was harder when he answered.

"The clan leader has an important issue to discuss with the clan," he replied. "He is asking you to appear, too."

"Appear?!" Demona asked irritated. "What is it about?"

The bluish Gargoyle shook his white-haired head.

"He hasn't said this," he replied as politely as possible. "If you will excuse me."

Without waiting for an answer, the young warrior turned around and returned to the likewise young gargess who was already chattering happily.

"Mhhh…" Demona emitted, as she watched the young one's back, knowing from the look he had given her that he knew at least a bit more than he revealed.

"I'll be up," Darlene said to her mother. "Please tell them we'll need some minutes."

Demona nodded, leaning against the sink and watching her daughter leave with thoughtful eyes.

"You haven't asked me," she noticed in a skeptical voice.

"What?" Darlene asked, having passed half the way to the door.

"You used to beg me to go with you when you visit the clan," Demona said, looking in her daughter's eyes. "I noticed you haven't asked anymore for a while."

Darlene swallowed under her mother's seeking eyes, holding Gem a bit stronger.

"Maybe I just grew tired of this," she replied, trying to sound as normal as possible.

Demona looked on her biological oldest child a while longer, and then she nodded.

"Anyway," she began. "I will come with you, as I have to inform them myself that Atlanta has shown up."

"Fine," Darlene said with as much optimism as she could pretend, not mentioning the invitation. "You'll see you're welcomed."

With this she turned around, feeling a rumble in her ever growing stomach and feeling Gem's heartbeat at her breast, asking herself how she might one day have to explain to her beloved Gem that her 'Granna' had killed her father… feeling close to tears.

****

11.09.98; 21:47; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:

Every one of the Gargoyles gathered felt the expectation, and it was no good one, as they noticed the look on their leader's face who sat at his table beside his mate, his second, and his most trusted advisers.

Sure, gossip ran through the clan as fast as ever, mostly about that Lucifia and her new allies had attacked one of the clans in Great Britain, maybe even Scotland where some of the clan's former members still lived…. But why had their leader made them wait?!

Jarred sat beside his adopted rookery siblings, sharing their excitement which seemed to spread even to the rest of the clan, which murmured around itself, taking short looks at the leader's table.

Suddenly, the doors to the courtyard opened, and Talon entered, followed by the clones who were in turn followed by the Gargoyles assigned to the protection of the Labyrinth.

"He has called the other leader?" Eve noticed to the one sitting beside her, elbowing Jacen sitting right of her as she noticed Goliath nodding to his brother in law. "This must be important."

The other hatchlings agreed silently.

Finally, Goliath rose to his impressive height and looked around his clan, causing it to become silent.

The silence raved through the clan as a wave, and even when they were even more silent than the rest of the clan, going so far that some of them even held their breathes, the clan leader turned his eyes on them.

"Young ones, you can go to your room or go outside," Goliath ordered. "But since the guards are not on post gliding, you are only allowed over the castle."

The other hatchlings on Jarred's table groaned, and he also felt the need to protest rise in him.

Even Gem can stay! the half-gargoyle thought, looking over to the table where his mother and grandmother sat, the first with her youngest daughter in her arms.

Yet before he could actually say something, most of the comrades on the table had already risen and so he decided to join them, following Eve and Connor leaving the room through a door.

"Three months," he heard a female hatchling murmur.

"With Lucifia around?" Eve asked cynically. "Make it six."

"As some of you know, I have been visited tonight by a human," Jarred heard the clan leader's voice echoing in the floor. "What he had to say is something the clan and our friends will have to decide about."

A silent extended, in which Jarred came out of earshot.

"The government want us to register," Goliath explained, looking over his clan. "This time it doesn't only want our numbers, but pictures and names"

Angry murmurs erupted.

"Why?" a female of Brooklyn's generation asked.

"They want to be able to identify us," her leader replied.

"To hunt us down," Demona stated, clearly cynical.

Goliath looked on his former mate, and Brooklyn who sat besides his leader asked himself why he had asked her to come since he must have known what her reaction would be like.

"No," Goliath replied calmly. "But to register us."

"Register?! What are we?" Kronos asked the clan angrily. "Criminals?!"

Before voices could rise in the clan, Goliath answered.

"It is voluntary," he revealed. "The emissary made this clear."

"Why should we do it then?" Fuchsia asked. "What could this bring us?"

"It would show that we are willing to cooperate, and help to build trust," her brother said, and his former mate snorted much to the annoyance of Darlene and Angela by her table. "But there is another point."

Looking around in the great hall, the leader of his clan realized that everyone knew what was coming.

"Lucifia…" he started, and saw that many eyes in the crowd lit up. "If we let them know everyone of us, the government might be much more willing to believe us that she is not one of us, if she again commits an act against the humans in this city."

"Why should they think else if we show them our pictures?" Achilles asked, his forehead showing folds.

"My mate is right," the smoky-gray female with black hair noticed, touching her mate's right shoulder. "Can't your friend the mayor do something about this?"

"The emissary represented the national authority," Elisa replied, choosing to ignore the tone in her sister's voice. "The mayor has no authority over this branch of government."

The majority of the clan felt even more unsure by these words, asking themselves why human governments had to be so complicated.

"You said the whole clan," the yellow-skinned, white-haired rookery mother said, holding a male hatchling with pale green skin and no hair over her still intact left breast. "They don't possibly mean the hatchlings also?"

Much to her shock and that of the rest of the clan, Goliath nodded.

"They did," he revealed, and felt the indignation in the clan rise. "But I don't see any need for that."

"As if there is any need for it anyhow," Kronos's deep voice announced. "Will you order us to... _participate_ in this?"

Goliath looked over his clan, feeling the expectation coming from it.

"No," he noted. "But I recommend it."

As it was clear that their leader had ended his announcement, discussions broke loose on every table, which Talon used to come over to Goliath, greeting him and foremost his sister.

"I realize why you called me," the Mutate said, as he had hugged his sister.

"And?" Goliath asked.

Elisa's brother rubbed his head covered with black fur, and then shook it.

"As long as not everyone of your clan agrees to it, I see no reason to let myself or one of my clan register," he said. "The public should not get too attracted to us, and as long as we can pass off as some of the members of your clan if needed…"

Goliath nodded, not pleased but understanding.

On the other side of the room, the eldest sat on a table together with her former apprentice, and shook her head as she heard how loud her clan-mates at the table and elsewhere discussed this topic.

"Such a waste of energy for some pictures," she said to herself

Sighing, she let her eyes wander over the room until it met the face of a hatchling lingering out of one of the floors, eavesdropping on the discussion.

"While the others discuss, I guess we could go to the youngest," she told her former apprentice. "Maybe we can make them understand why such a meeting is of such importance."

****

11.09.98; 22:04; Castle Wyvern, Hatchling's room:

"…the clan realized that acting each on their own had made them hungry and brought them all in danger," the honey-tanned storyteller said. "And that is why we make such important decisions together, as one clan."

The hatchling listened but, as the storyteller noticed, not really eager, their minds wandering to their chores, the training, and for sure the tests which were approaching.

"Okay," the storyteller said, thinking on one of their favorite stories. "Do you want to hear about how we hunted boars for the first time?"

The answer was silence.

"Good to know when we'll raid the zoo next time…" Duncan whispered to the unnamed hatchling with brown skin, likewise fair hair, and two horns that turned through them, holding a white claw in front of his beak.

The stare of the storyteller robbed Duncan of any answer he could probably have gotten from his younger brother, and the pretty hatchling stared at the older gargoyle embarrassed.

"I just mean why tell these stories if we will never hunt down a boar anymore?" Duncan asked, knowing his whole rookery and especially Eve were looking on him.

The storyteller looked on him a moment longer, and then she sighed.

"There will still be hunts, lad… though I know what you mean," she explained. "But as much as things change for the clan, we have to remember our past, where we come from."

"Will there come new stories?" Jane, the former Amy, asked, sitting in front of the storyteller.

"Sure there will," the storyteller explained. "But now it is time I let you go to your training, as your teachers are surely waiting already."

The hatchlings rose and left, as did the clones who had stood on the backward part of the wall while the storyteller had spun the story.

"You made a good point," the eldest noticed from behind, having watched her former apprentice with shining eyes.

"He, too," the storyteller explained, looking at the eldest who sat in a chair. "What happens to the stories if their wisdom has no use for the clan anymore?"

"Oh thus wisdom will be needed again one way or the other," the eldest assured. "Don't let their unrest worry you…"

"At least some listened," the storyteller noticed with a sigh. "The clones were very interested."

"They yearn to learn more about the world and the clan," eldest said with a slight smile. "Especially the lass."

"Should we consider them as part of the clan, as the leader suggested?" the storyteller asked thoughtfully, leaning herself against a table placed near the wall. "I know we should not judge Gargoyles the way they are hatched, but when I see them I always have to think of how they were created… and why."

The eldest thought about it, looking at the cane that she held with both claws.

"They form their own clan now…" she began, stopping in the middle and looking out the window thoughtfully.

The storyteller looked at her for a second.

"Eldest?" she asked respectfully.

"Oh… much as our children on Avalon," the elder continued, looking back at her apprentice. "But like them, we should offer them access to their heritage."

The storyteller nodded, though her face was still unsure.

"Enough of that," the eldest said smiling. "Let us go back and join the others."

Saying this, the old Gargoyle made an effort to stand up, propping on her cane, with the storyteller helping her a second later.

****

11.09.98; 22:24; Castle Wyvern, training room:

His eyes shielded by a blindfold, Jarred leaned forward and sniffed again, taking full breathes until they were deep in his lungs.

"Blood?" he said hopefully.

"Remove the blindfold," the voice of Deborah said.

He did as ordered, and noticed that the thing lying in a pot in front of him, which stood on a large table, was actually a piece of cloth with the sign human on it, and going further to his left he discovered the contents of the other pots, being a piece of coat with the sign saying deer, the next being earth, the next a piece of fish, the other mixed shards of stone-skin, the next pot was filled with berries, and the last before his was a piece of burnt wood.

"Two out of seven," Deborah summed up skeptically.

Jarred nodded, depressed, as the worst yet had been three out of seven. Deborah had even used for the first time the trick of adding a component her pupils hadn't have the opportunity to sniff on before.

On a sign of his teacher, Jarred moved back to his fellow hatchlings with another of them being called up for the test.

Eve, now standing beside him, gave him a grin.

"Could have been worse," his adopted sister noted.

Jarred could not quite believe this, and instead of answering, he watched Deborah folding the blindfold on Connor and then putting the pots on other parts of the table.

Interested, he watched the clones standing to the left and a bit apart from the hatchlings, waiting to be called up. Brentwood discovered the half-human staring at him, and returned his look, on which Jarred waved his claw, but the clone just continued to look surprised.

****

11.09.98; 23:17; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:

The hall was still half filled with Gargoyles arguing over the decisions to be made.

"You can't make it simple!" Angela argued.

"It is," her mother replied. "They want to control us at best, and be prepared to attack us if worst."

"The government hasn't done so before, why should they now?" Angela tried to reason with her mother.

"Humans barely need a reason," Demona simply replied.

Her daughter groaned, and looked around at the table to find help by either Desdemona and her mate, or Darlene sitting beside them with Thersities by her side who seemed just happy to sit there, but found none, not even by her biological sister who had already declared that she would take a photo of herself, much to her mother's indignation, but not of her children.

"Everyone can decide on their own on this?" Desdemona noticed, hoping to end the discussion by this.

"Right," a voice said. "But how can we make such an important decision not as a clan?"

The table looked at the smoky-gray female with black hair was their sister, and Achille's mate.

"I thought you and your mate would welcome it," Demona noticed dryly.

"I don't speak to you," her sister snarled, her eyes lowering while glaring at her.

Both sisters glared on each other a moment, then the smoky gray one looked back to the others.

"This is the only way to show strength in front of the humans," she continued, deciding to ignore her rookery sister.

"Then we should all take this photos." Angela argued, trying to go over the exchange. "Lets show the people we have nothing to hide."

"Nothing to hide?" the older gargess replied. "We can't let them intrude this way in our business… the next time they might want to know if we know about other clans! What will you do then?"

"They don't ask that," Angela replied.

"Now they don't," Achilles' mate added.

"If they do, I trust our leader to give the right answer," Desdemona stepped in, her tone being strong but gentle. "As we all should."

Her sister looked around at the table, and then she sighed.

"I see," she said "But not all share this point, sister."

With this she left, but not before taking a last look behind Desdemona's back.

Following the look, Desdemona noticed with surprise that it had been aimed to Othello, whose look was not quite happy.

"What?" she asked, still surprised.

"She has a point," her mate replied.

Desdemona stared partly in shock on him while Demona just snorted, taking a glass and drinking a little with Darlene's look on her.

Noticing this look, Angela looked on her older sister in return, wondering.

"Angela?" the well-known voice of her mate called her.

Looking up, she discovered Broadway standing in front of her.

"It is time," the thick gargoyle reminded her.

Angela nodded, and turned to her tablemates.

"Excuse me, we have patrol tonight," she explained, and left with her mate, who held an arm around her, to the doors leading outside where Bea and Lexington waited on them.

Darlene watched them with a smile while Demona preferred to look away, murmuring to herself what she thought of these patrols.

"A happy couple," Thersities noticed with a look to Darlene, which she did not notice.

Demona noticed it indeed, and shot a short angry glare at him.

"Äh…" her rookery brother began, a bit startled by the look. "Maybe we could…"

"Hello!" Darlene's voice interrupted him, as she waved to the clones lead by Delilah, and guarded by two of the clan "Why don't you sit down by us?"

The whole table seemed a bit shocked by this invitation, but no one objected, except one.

"I'm leaving," Demona stated, rising from the table and leaving to head out the door, just to be joined by Shade who had lingered around in the room unseen until then.

"Don't mind her," Darlene asked the clones who, with the exception of Delilah, looked more surprised than hurt on the immortal's reaction. "Sit. We could talk a bit if you have the time."

"Some minutes won't be a problem," the larger one of the clone's protectors said, giving his web-winged companion a wink to leave.

The clone did as asked, except Burbank.

"I stand." Hudson's clone said. "It's better."

Darlene took a look on him and nodded, which the clone took with somewhat of pride.

"I'm Darlene, these are Thersities, Desdemona and Othello," she explained. "I think we know your names already."

"What you want to talk about?" Brentwood asked, looking interested.

"Well, I heard you're training with my daughter," the older gargess noticed. "Do you like it?"

The clones shared a look.

"We learn," Hollywood stated. "That is good."

Delilah nodded reluctantly.

"It is just hard sometimes," she explained. "And it hurts."

"You can say that again," Thersities said, trying to bring himself into the dialogue, earning him an amused look from his siblings.

"Training often hurts," Desdemona joined the talk, looking to the younger gargess. "I and my siblings often welcomed the stone sleep after training."

"Did she train you, too?" Malibu asked, referring to their teacher.

The caramel gargess shook her head.

"Amongst others, yes… but our main teacher was Deborah," she explained, pointing to the gargess standing by her mate in the proximity of some other older clan-members, talking intensively to them. "Though she had no name back then, and was the clan's second."

The clone shortly looked at the blonde, green skinned gargess, with Burbank holding an especially long look.

"I have been trained by my mother, Demona…." Darlene said, looking to Delilah. "I heard you have connection with her, too."

Besides her, Desdemona and Othello shared a look.

"She is one of my genetically sources," Delilah stated, looking surprised. "We have been told Gargoyles don't mind their parentage."

"It was just my mother and me when I hatched," Darlene explained. "Besides, it isn't in every clan that way as I have learned."

Silence past.

"Well, and what are you doing if you don't train?" Thersities tried to bring the conversation back to life, with a short look on Darlene.

"Gliding," Malibu stated.

"We protect our home," Delilah noted.

"We clean up," Hollywood added.

"We see TV," Brentwood concluded.

"Nice," Thersities stated, hoping not to sound too perplexed.

"Guys," one of the Gargoyles, who had accompanied them, said reluctantly. "It is time."

The clones threw a look at the two gargoyles standing behind them, and then at the two Gargoyles waiting at the exit to the courtyard.

"We need to go," Delilah said.

Darlene nodded, giving the younger gargess a smile.

"Sure," she said. "We can talk again next time if you want, or answer any questions you may have."

"Any?" Brentwood asked, looking up skeptical at the table.

Darlene nodded, and so did Desdemona, though she looked surprised.

"Goodbye then, and until tomorrow night," she said goodbye to the clones, watching them leave.

Her tablemates looked at her.

"What?" Demona's daughter asked.

****

11.09.98; 23:31; Castle Wyvern, Outside, Below The Large Tower:

The immortal watched the city, sitting on one perch, with Shade resting on the other.

Though with her thoughts wandering, watching was indeed the wrong word, except for once when she had spotted the clones and their guards leaving, and her eyes had narrowed when discovering Delilah.

"Come on," she suddenly heard Jarred's voice some distance from behind. "This will be interesting."

"I don't care," Eve replied, and followed by this the immortal could hear the sound of feet claws leaving.

From the corner of her eyes, Demona noticed that Shade had raised her scarred head in the direction of the sound, but her own still stared on the city, and no one but an experienced warrior could have noticed by the movement of her muscles that she had noticed something.

"Grandmother?" a young voice called her from behind.

Turning around, Demona learned that her guess had been correct, discovering Jarred, Connor and her rookery daughter who seemed to have a fable for twitching names, looking at her, their eyes full of expectations.

"Yes?" the immortal asked.

"We were wondering if…" Jarred began.

"Tellusastoryofyourlife," Jane interrupted him. "Pleasepleaseplease…"

Jane continued to look at her rookery mother pleadingly, with her friends looking surprised on her.

"I'm not in the mood for a story," Demona replied.

The hatchlings looked disappointed.

"But I could tell you a story I once heard in…" the immortal stopped for a moment, closing her eyes. "…In another clan."

The hatchlings looked at each other, surely having hoped for more, but they nodded.

"Then listen," Demona began, coming down from the perch. "You all know the story about how Augustus once let his magus cast a spell so that our belongings turn to stone with us, but beyond the ocean the clans had never heard of that, and so when they began to notice…"

****

11.09.98; 23:42; Near The Entrance of The Labyrinth:

"She was nice," Delilah concluded.

"Most are not," Hollywood replied.

"We should ask them," Brentwood said enthusiastically, gliding besides his siblings.

"What?" Delilah asked surprised.

Her brother thought for a moment, and then his face lit up.

"Everything," Lexington's clone said as if this didn't really count.

Besides them, Malibu flew a salto as they had been taught recently.

"Hya!" Brooklyn's clone said enthusiastically.

"Hya?" Brentwood asked.

"The pilots say that when they do looping," his brother said, having seen it on TV.

Suddenly one of the Manhattan gargoyles, a red skinned one with a slight beak neared them, staring angrily at the clones.

"Are you mad?" he asked them, his eyes flashing white. "Do you want the whole city to see us?"

Delilah and Brentwood looked down, discovering no people looking up at them, yet Malibu lowered his head in shame and muttered something sounding like 'sorry'.

"As if we weren't in enough trouble already…" the Manhattan gargoyle muttered while gliding away, going back to his position as one corner of an imaginable quadrate that he and his clan mates formed around the clones again.

Seeing that her brother still hung his head, letting it look as if his teal beak suddenly had become too heavy for him, she patted his shoulders, making him grin again.

Noticing one of them missing, Delilah looked back, discovering Burbank gliding a bit behind them but still in the imaginable quadrate which surrounded them, thinking.

****

11.09.98; 23:59; Castle Wyvern, One Floor:

"Finally," Lana said, staring at the clean floor, holding two mops.

Out of the door right of her, leading to one of the bathrooms, came Ruth holding two empty buckets.

"I thought it would never end," Lana noticed, and the red haired gargess nodded

"Let's take them to the storeroom," Ruth said.

Agreeing, Lana followed her friend until they found the storeroom they had taken their tools from.

"Can you imagine doing this for the rest of the month?" Lana asked, as she put the mops in the rather large storeroom, looking more like an actual room.

"I don't _want_ to," Ruth noted, depressed. "Maybe we can take a walk, and talk with the others before we have to be back at the rookery."

"Miss Ruth and Miss Anderson?" a polite yet reserved voice said from behind.

Both young gargoyles turned around in surprise, discovering Owen standing behind them, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere.

"Where did you come from?" Ruth asked, having heard no steps.

"I suggest you follow me," Xanatos' majordomo said, not answering the question, and looking calm as always. "And bring the buckets with you."

Lana and Ruth shared a look but did as ordered, and followed the man turned Fey until they reached the elevators.

"Where are we going?" Lana asked perplexed.

"The Atrium," Owen said, walking into the open elevator.

"The what?" Lana asked even more perplexed, standing before the elevator.

"The green level beyond the castle," Ruth explained to her.

"Correct," Owen agreed, looking at the two Gargoyles in the elevator. "It needs some horticultural work, and you will do it as per my instructions."

"And why should we do this?!" Lana asked, feeling anger rise in her.

"You are still under penalization for your severe misuse of magic, and I agreed with your elders that this fits in," Owen replied as a matter of fact. "Unless of course you want to return to the rookery?"

Lana glared on the man, finding it more and more easy to guess why her grandmother disliked him so much.

Holding their emotions in check, and knowing that anything was better than the rookery, both Gargoyles stepped into the elevator, letting Owen press the button.

"And I thought slavery was abolished," Lana muttered unhappily under her breath.

"Indeed, this part of the constitution only correlates on humans," Xanatos major-domo noted.

Both gargesses stared at him while the doors of the elevator closed.

****

12.09.98; 00:16; Castle Wyvern, Tower:

"That night the elder walked deeper into the woods following her guardian spirit until the clearing where she found the good smelling blossom they had paid no attention before." Demona's voice told from about. "In honour of her guide she called it Tear of Naliko and gave it to the Shaman who used it to cure the hatchling. It has always been used this way henceforth."

Eve stood under the tower, hiding in the shadows and listening to her former leader how she told her story to all the hatchlings having assembled by her over the time and found it hard not to cry.

what do they think she does? the hatchling asked herself she is faking!

"It doesn't count." Eve whispered to herself, realising from the silence from above that her rookery mother and former leader had stopped with her story. "Not at all."

With this words she left for a glide over the castle, defiantly drying her tears with her claws.

****

12.09.98; 00:21; Castle Wyvern, Rookery:

"And don't forget to rub her with this after you bathed her." Aerie said, showing Thersities a bottle of baby lotion while holding a hatchling in her other arm. "The new human diapers seem to need it, but at last they are faster then the cloth one."

"Hmm." her rookery brother noticed, looking sceptical on the bottle "The whole body?"

Aerie starred a moment on him, then she handed the hatchling, a female in dark green, without hair but a beautiful crest, combined with a set of tiny horns, to her lazy brother.

"**You** will tell him." she ordered, looking to Darlene who stood beside the beaked gargoyle and gave her the bottle with lotion.

"I will." Darlene assured the rookery mother and laid a claw on Therities shoulder. "Come I'll show you how to bath her."

The male there while looked a bit unsure on the hatchling in his arms who in return looked up to him in a rather comical mirroring of his expression, raising her little arm to touch his beak.

Breaking the look, both gargoyles left the rookery, followed by Gem who happily toddled after them partly on two partly on all four legs.

"Would you have ever imagined that our brother takes care of his duties as rookery father of free will?" Arnadella asked stepping besides her sister, holding a half asleep Jaheira in her arms.

"No." Aerie replied with a smile "Darlene seems to change him."

"Let's hope his courting lasts some time." her rookery sister said with a chuckle.

"Do you think they might really get together?" Aerie asked sounding suddenly thoughtfully.

"Lets hope so." Arnadella replied in the same tone, deciding to let this topic be for now and carefully readjusting Jahreira in her arms not to let her tiny horns pecking her breast.

Aerie watched this scene of peace and suddenly her face became dark.

"It is madness." she nearly whispered.

Arnadela who had paid attention to the hatchling just had to take one look at her sister to realise what she was talking about.

"Yes… I mean even the hatchlings!" she noticed. "As if one of this little ones could harm anyone."

Aerie nodded, noticing that Jaheira was twitching uneasily in her arms.

"And why should we do it?" Arnadela asked. "Our rouge sister was right they could hunt us much easier that way."

Aerie's rather human looking face darkened.

"Don't mention Demona." she replied irritated. "If there is one…"

Further words where stopped by Jaheira's cry and both rookery mothers lowered their eyes, noticing that their daughter had woken up by something which was seemingly a nightmare.

"Shhhh…." Arnadela soothed trying to calm the red haired hatchling down, though with few success. "It is okay."

As Jaheira bawled further, Aerie sighed and rose her tail to the hatchling's face, calming her down as the young one tried to figure out what had just appeared.

"I whished I had such." Arnadela noticed with a smile while starring at her sister and slighting knocking on the floor with the bony knob at the end of her tail.

"For it you can knock out your mate if he gets too stubborn." Aerie replied.

Her sister laughed up.

"When you are ready with this you might help us other." A cutting voice told them from the inner parts of the rookery. "Since they all are awake now you can take one more and give them the bath."

Both rookery sisters shared a knowing look before looking back to the centre of the rookery, where the yellow skinned, white hair rookery mother was looking at them, together with the rest of the rookery mothers who gave them a sympathic look.

"Yes elder." Aerie replied. "Shall we… OU!"

The rookery mother having not paid attention, Jaheira had been able to grab the hairy tail biting firmly in it.

"Hey you little weasel." the bitten rookery mother complained to her daughter slightly amused after having pulled her tail away. "This is no food."

Jaheira in turn seemed to have forgotten her nightmare and laughed happily at the attention.

****

12.09.98; 00:23; Castle Wyvern, Outside:

Having told her stories and feeling something she couldn't really describe, Demona watched the hatchlings leave and rose to do the same, seeing Shade leaving for her own businesses.

"Do ye mind me going some metres with ye lassie?" the elder storyteller who had listened all the time asked, propping heavily on the crane.

Demona shook her head, adapting her tempo to that of the female elder when both moved in the castle.

The immortal knew better than to stare, but she couldn't but notice that the elder… eldest had seemingly grown weaker during the last _months_ she hadn't had an opportunity to see her.

"Ye have a talent for story-telling." the eldest noticed, giving her daughter a toothless smile "My sucessor barely get all of them gathered when she tells the stories, ye nearly get them all."

Demona nodded and stopped, unknowing how to react on this praise.

"I try my best to tell them something interesting." she explained.

"Oh…" the eldest exclaimed angrily, knocking her crane on the earth. "Ye should know better than that lass! Stories are more than just than just this magic box the hatchlings seem so eager on lately, they…"

The eldest didn't continue but gave her daughter a confused look.

"What were we talking about?" she asked.

Demona bit her lip.

"The stories." she explained in a soft tone.

The eldest looked one moment more, but then her eyes became clear and vivid again.

"Yes stories!" she exclaimed "They are important and I had hoped to hear more of you."

"I can't tell the story of my life in one night." Demona reminded the old one.

The eldest just shook her head.

"Not such stories lass," she said angrily "real stories, stories which are the memories of the clans."

Slowly the immortal realised what the eldest wanted from her.

"You want to hear the stories of the clans I met." Demona noticed.

"Yes," the eldest said, her eyes sparkling. "too many stories have gone lost, too many clan's died out, but if their stories survive a part of them survives."

Demona nodded, she understood the eldest point, even when for her the survival of one clan was more worth than any story of the world.

Memories flushed through Demona's mind, memories of rookeries. She saw herself listenening stories as hatchling, not even old enough to have left the rookery yet, she saw herself older, listening stories or telling them herself, she saw rookeries of hatchlings long dead….

"I..." the immortal began, having stopped for a second "Which I told were the only stories I remember."

The eldest gave her child a puzzling look, then she nodded.

"I understand." she said. "But ye will think about them?"

"I don't know when I have the time for this." Demona explained… finding this talk more and more stressing. "Maybe later."

"You will remember them in time lass you will." the old one noticed with a smile the immortal felt somehow let her heart pain.

"I must go." Demona said, suddenly feeling a need to leave to… anywhere but there.

"Aye lass." she explained in a mild voice.

"Good night eldest." Demona said politely and moved on, going down the floor while the eldest looked after her thoughtfully.

****

12.09.98; 00:37; Castle Wyvern, Atrium:

Lana plucked on the tuft of grass growing by the tree and threw it into the bucket, Ruth besides her doing the same.

"By all the money this guy has you could believe he had at last one team of gardeners." the half gargoyle noticed, having stood up and rubbing her forehead free of sweat.

Ruth meanwhile knelt down to see where another part of unwanted green grew.

"I heard he had." she explained after plucking up a single grass grain. "Word is he keeps them away from here after he learned that at last one of them might be part of Lucifia's cult."

Lana who had knelt down once again looked over her shoulder straight into her friend's face.

"You're joking." she said.

Ruth just shook her head.

"Such is the word." she replied, her tail twitching a bit. "Xanatos is a worried since the incident in the TV."

"Clear." Lana agreed, turning back to her work. "I mean can you imagine how it is to be filmed at… at…"

The young gargess stopped, realizing that it had been damn close when the males of the clan where after her friend during their little magic trick.

"Sorry." she added.

A moment of silence passed.

"No problem, but promise me one thing." the red haired gargess said. "No magic anymore."

"Promised." Lana assured, turning to lighter topics. "Maybe we could bring some of this green in the kitchen to see if your cook can use it. It might gain us some minutes."

Ruth seemed to seriously thinking about it, standing up and looking for more green to pluck.

"I have yet to let them make a photo of me." the young warrior explained, sounding less than optimistic.

"You don't sound if you want to." Lana noticed, diving in a hedge.

"I don't." Ruth declared open-heart. "But I don't want Achilles as leader either."

The half gargoyle meanwhile had stood up from the bush, starring at the empty cola tin in her claw.

"It isn't such dramatic!" Lana noticed a bit unbelieving. "I mean it isn't as if you choose a new clan leader next day."

Ruth shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe not." she admitted. "But he said he believes it is for the best of the clan and how could he be leader if we don't trust him in this?"

Lana thought about this and threw the tin in the bucket.

"Is it really so bad?" she asked, "I mean I don't want to offend you but you hardly can disappear in a crowd even if they hadn't your picture."

"Would **you** want some people you don't know have a picture of you?" Ruth replied, plucking some green. "Pictures they could use if they are after you?"

"Wow calm down a bit." Lana asked, rising and turning to her friend. "It isn't like the police is after you."

Ruth looked at her friend, then she nodded.

"It is just with Lucifia around and after what nearly had happened in the night you arrived…" the young gargess sighed. "Everyone is tensed."

Lana thought about when she had seen the castle being sieged by angry citizens in the TV and nodded.

"Sure." she said.

Lana wanted to turn back to her work when she was stopped…

"Hello." a male voice interrupted them. "Do you need some help?"

Lana turned around, groaning inwardly, knowing before she did so whom she would see.

There they were, Edward who had spoken, a small red one with a short beak, Queens, a green skinned one with black hair and extreme long shoulder and knee spikes and the last one, the only unnamed and largest one of the trio, a light brown one with stay hair and something like a shark's fin parting this wearing already a basket, the usual lot starring eager on them except…

Rather strangely Lana discovered that the fourth, a male with smoke black skin and short wide beak was standing a bit behind the others.

"What are you doing down here?" Lana asked reluctantly, knowing that this were the first word she had with them since the incident in the shower room.

"Since we still have prolonged duty we decided to spend it this way." Queens noticed. "So I think we can start…"

"We are nearly ready here." Lana said quickly, stepping in front of the young gargoyle before he could enter the earth "But you could start over there."

With this the gargess pointed over to a green place nearly on the other side of the Atrium, making the young males look less enthusiastic.

"You would really help us with this." the half gargoyle lied.

The three males in front of her looked insecure, but the nameless, smoke-black one seemed to have recognized the hint at once.

"Let's go." he told his siblings, moving in the direction Lana had indicated on.

Reluctantly they followed, but not after giving Lana a look telling her that it was against their believe.

****

12.09.98; 00:57; Brooklyn, Somewhere about the streets:

The air about the city was fresh though not yet cool, not that it would care the creatures using the updraft if it would be 20 degrees cooler. Yet it would probably have helped to cool the discussion raging in the sky.

"Then you can't really wish them to know us all!" Bea replied eagerly.

"The Quarrymen are not the same as the government." Angela countered. "They even hunt them cause of what they did, so we should give them no reason not to trust us."

Gliding left besides Bea Lexington took a look at Broadway who glided right besides Angela, giving him a sign on which both glided a bit backward of their girlfriend.

"Great date hm." Broadway noticed, sure out of earshot of Angela.

"Yeah." Lexington replied. "See the bright side we haven't ran in Lucifia and her gang."

The larger gargoyle nodded, taking a look around over the nightly sky for any sign of another gargoyle nearing.

"We could…" Broadway said, taking a look at the ground and discovering something glittering on the ground. "**WATCH OUT!**"

By saying that, the gargoyle dived with amazing speed under his mate, turning around, grabbing Angela's arms from under her and turning her out of the way by letting them turn circles around their common centre.

Angela, perplexed by this stunt and yet noticing in the corner of her eyes that Lexington did the same with Bea, gasped.

"What…" Angela asked, stabilizing her flight once again as her mate did the same besides her.

"There!" Broadway pointed out to where he had noticed the glittering looking like the telescopic sight of a sniper.

"You mean the photographer?" Angela asked slightly amused.

Broadway took a closer look at the source of the glittering and realised that his mate was right, the photographer, a man in his thirties even waved at them, having noticed he had been discovered.

"I'm sorry Angela I…" the big gargoyle began but was stopped when Angela dove near him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you." She whispered, noticing that his olive green cheeks turned red which made her smiling even more.

"Just one of them." Lexington noticed, half angered, half resigned. "But we should really be more careful, we are on patrol after all."

"Right." Bea agreed, grab Lexington's right claw with her left and gave Angela a look which seemed half excusing.

Angela, knowing that their discussion had to end by now, nodded and shifted her head forward to the sea, the next goal of their patrol and further away from the camera, eager to not let anything else slip from her attention.

Yet, five seconds later she slowed down in her glide and looked back.

"What is?" Broadway asked worried.

"Shouldn't we warn him?" Angela asked thoughtfully. "There is a chance that one of them run in him after all and you know they might kill him."

Broadway shared a look with Lexington.

"He is a paparazzi." Lexington replied. "He will probably sell any warning to the next newspaper if we do."

"Can we let him in danger just because of this?" Angela asked irritated.

"There are a lot of people who are in danger with Lucifia and the others out there." Broadway reminded her softly. "The best way to deal with that is to find them quickly."

His mate bit her lip but said nothing.

we are supposed to protect everyone in the city Angela thought how can we simply turn our backs…

"He leaves his post." Bea explained, having taken a look behind. "So he **should** be safe."

Angela turned her head and saw the paparazzi dismantling his tripod and wrapping in his camera.

"He probably knows that once we've spotted one of them no one of the clan will come near this spot one kilometre." Lexington noticed satisfied.

Angela nodded, feeling at least some relieve.

****

12.09.98; 01:03; Castle Wyvern, the Atrium:

Plucking some green and putting it in the bucket besides her, Lana felt the last of her patience run out.

Maybe it was the was the rate in which three of the four males came closer to here, more eagerly cleaning the ground whenever she was forced to look. Maybe it was the look of at last distant pain in which Ruth looked after the crested, unnamed one of the trio who in return just looked on Lana.

"Could I…" Queens asked stepping closer and visibly trying very much to look helpful.

"**NO!**" Lana yelled on him, rising to her full height and glaring at him. "You can not."

Queens moved one step back while seeing in the young gargoyle's red eyes.

"I do not wish you to help me, I don't wish to speak to you and I surely don't want to see you flexing your muscles." Lana said, pointing at him but looking at his comrades also. "Since you somehow managed to ignore it before here again. You don't interest me and nothing you do can change this, so **goddamned** stop stalking me."

Lana continued glaring at the lot, then she felt that at last she had enough and grabbed her bucket and left. Ruth followed her but not before taking a last look back before hurrying to meet her friend at the elevator.

To her surprise Lana felt herself snarling as she pressed the button of the elevator hard enough that she nearly managed to damage it.

"Now you ruined it." the half gargoyle could one of them hear scolding Queens from behind.

"Oh shut up." thus replied.

"Maybe a hunt might impress her." the third noticed.

Lana emitted a sigh of desperation as she and Ruth entered the newly arrived elevator and didn't turn around until it had closed behind her.

"At last you tried." Ruth noticed emphatically.

Lana didn't respond but starred at the doors of the elevator.

"I'd sooner face Lucifia." she noticed to herself.

****

12.09.98; 01:07; Brooklyn, A lonely alley:

"No sound." the mugger said, pulling the other man, a light haired mid fiftier with glasses deeper into the ally by grabbing him partly by his leather jacket and his leather rucksack, making sure he didn't talk by putting the blade of his knife on the man's throat.

"Please you can have my money." The terrified victim said, sweating terribly.

The mugger, maybe in his thirties with a bold head, green eyes and rather small, grinned, revealing that his left and right upper incisors were missing, satisfied he had brought him deep enough in the shadows to finish his job.

"..ngela no we…" he heard a voice from above, making him stop.

Taking one look up and realising something very large was falling down very fast the mugger made a jump backwards from his victim and more important from where the thing would land in nearly inhuman speed.

Where he had stood a second before was now a female gargoyle, glancing at him with blood red eyes and shadows on her faces.

For a moment the mugger gulped.

"How do you dare!" she asked him.

The mugger smiled, standing upright, making sure he held the knife right and looked around, sensing one more gargoyle a realy thick, olive green skinned one land besides the female, effectively blocking his path to a visibly terrified victim, even worse two smaller gargoyles were climbing down head ahead.

Oddly he smiled at them.

"You are not allowed that." he said in a nearly mad grin. "What would you say if I ran to police and squeal you?"

"Says the right one." the thick olive green skinned one noticed angrily starring at him.

The mugger giggled, revealing more than a bit insanity while watching them with small eyes as the smaller ones landed by their comrades.

"Besides we are just standing here." the smaller, web winged male noticed, never leaving the mugger and especially his knife out of his eyes. "No one is denying us this…"

"Try to pass if you want." the smaller female teased him, her eyes lightening up red, revealing her the sharp teeth of her open mouth.

For five seconds he just watched them, the arm with the knife extended and it seemed for the gargoyles as if he really would just try this, but then he giggled again.

"You're death." he told them, waving his knife at them but doing two steps backwards at the same time. "You all I…"

The last words were stopped by an open mad laughter as he turned around and ran away, a laughter still long heard after he had taken the next corner.

Feeling a shiver run through his spine all along to the end of his tail, Broadway exchanged a short look with Angela showing she shared his feeling before turning to the saved man who looked at them in open wonder.

"Are you okay?" the thick gargoyle asked.

"Ye…" the man began "Yes, sorry I'm just…"

"Its okay just breath a bit." Lexington suggested.

The man followed the suggestion and used that time to fix his glasses while Broadway examined him closely. The nearly victim seemed to have aged properly though the knob he had made of his longer now nearly complete grey hair didn't look strange and indeed with the cheeks reddened through the excitement made him look years younger.

"Sorry… and thank you." the man finally said "Boy I heard from you guys but never thought I would see one of you at last not so close."

The group exchanged looks.

"You are not from here?" Angela asked, trying to calm him down.

"Kansas." the human revealed smiling "This is my last day or actual night here so I decided to have night journey, seeing the area in another light you know."

Broadway didn't know what to say else so he nodded.

"Oh I'm not one of that naïve ones." the man continued fast, eager to defend his honour. "I was looking for a taxi and found this man standing by one but he told me his would stand at the other side of the alley, so I followed…"

The human stopped, realising that this sounded at last a bit naïve.

"Just go back that alley and stay on the streets." Broadway suggested "Taxis drive here regularly as far as I know."

The human nodded, seemingly ready to go.

"Oh one think." Lexington stopped him, stepping forth from between Angela and Broadway "Could you please not mention that to anyone?"

The man stopped a moment the he nodded again.

"This silly law or?" he asked but prevented them from answering "Sure don't want you to have trouble and the police here are idiots not to allow you protecting us."

"Yeah." Broadway noticed, not knowing what to say and suddenly looking embarrassed. "Thank you."

"Owed you that." the man replied, already turning away. "Good night I must find a way to the airport."

With this words he waved after them quickly going back into the relative light of the open streets with the gargoyles not knowing what better to do waving after him.

"This went well." Lexington noticed, looking up at Angela and Broadway.

"Luckily." his rookery brother replied, looking to his mate.

"I know that we aren't supposed to do it." Angela defended herself "But you saw that look in his eyes."

A moment of silent prevailed until Bea sighed and laid her orange skinned claw on Angela's left shoulder.

"We saved a man and the government won't learn of it." she noticed, smiling at the gargess of the same age. "Sounds like a good night for me."

Unseen to the females Lexington gave Broadway a relieved smile.

"Speaking of." Broadway interrupted her mate and his sister "Lets get it finished we are already late for return."

"Right." Angela said giving her mate a hug and beginning to climb upwards. "Maybe father has some news."

"I hope not." Broadway said to himself while following his mate.

Standing just one corner away, the bold headed mugger whom despite his lack of hair Elisa would probably have recognized as one of the two men she had fought with deep under Manhattan while trying to flee the cell Lucifia had put her in, had eavesdropped and smiled.

****

12.09.98; 01:18; Castle Wyvern, schoolroom:

Brooklyn sat on his chair and corrected the little test he had his class made, discovering gracefully few mistakes… at last by most.

It was only when it knocked on the door that the second of his clan discovered a beautiful female standing in the door.

"Hello Lana." he greeted the half gargoyle, looking up from his desk.

"Uhh hi." Lana replied, staying where she was "Do I disturb you?"

"No." Brooklyn said, laying down the last, not so good test and his red marker. "Come in."

Lana nodded and stepped in. Trying to get over the first impression she had got when she had seen the beaked gargoyle sitting on the chair and suddenly felt remembered on one of her teachers.

"What is it?" Brooklyn asked standing up, suddenly vigilant recognizing her uneasiness and misinterpreting it. "Have my brothers gone after you again?"

"No…" Lana began, "Yes, but it wasn't like last time, it was just irritating."

"I will speak to them." the second promised seriously.

Darlene's daughter rubbed her left arm.

"It don't want to sneak." she explained "But maybe you can give me some advice."

"Advice?" Brooklyn asked surprised.

"Well you know them… and you're a male." Lana said "Maybe you can tell me how explain them that I'm not interested in them."

The male looked a moment on her, not knowing what to say…

"Second!" A voice prevented him from any answer.

Looking to the door both gargoyles discovered Tom starring at his brother.

"There was an attack." the dark brown, four winged gargoyle said. "The leader said there has been death."

"Who?" Brooklyn asked, feeling a shock and his eyes turning red, knowing very well who of his clan mates were out on patrole.

"Not by us." Tom tried to calm him down, recognizing what his brother thought of. "The leader has learnt of an attack on one of the clans in Europe."

Instead of the expected reassurance Brooklyn only felt a pack of ice gathering in his stomach.

"Which?" he asked total emotionless.

"Nia's clan." Tom said. "The leader is in the great hall informing the rest of us."

Brooklyn starred at him a second, then he raced on all fours past him, through the door, leaving Tom and Lana alone.

oh no the half gargoyle thought, sharing a look with Tom.

__

To be continued…


End file.
